Former president donald trump announced Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, as his vice presidential running mate on Monday, sparking almost immediate backlash from some of the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy groups, who drew attention to his policy support and rhetoric community-oriented.
Both the Human Rights Campaignthe largest LGBTQ rights organization in the country, and GLAADa national LGBTQ media advocacy group, released lists of comments Vance made and policies he supported relevant to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.
HRC and GLAAD noted that Vance presented a bill last year Called the Children’s Innocence Protection Act, which would have banned transition-related medical care, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and operations, for minors nationwide. The bill, which never passed out of committee, would have charged health care providers who violate it with a Class C felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and would also have prohibited higher education institutions and accrediting entities from providing care instructions. of gender affirmation.
In October, a few months after introducing the transition-related health care bill, Vance introduced the Passport Health Lawan account for ban “X” gender markers on US passports, a option that the State Department launched in April 2022. The project was also never approved in committee.
“The last thing the State Department should do is waste your time and tax dollars promoting far-left gender ideology,” Vance said in a statement at the time. “There are only two genders – passports issued by the United States government must recognize that simple fact. I am proud to introduce this bill to restore some sanity to our federal bureaucracy.”
During his Senate campaign in July 2022, Vance told Mission America, a right-wing Christian organization based in Ohio, that would oppose the Respect Marriage Act, a bill to guarantee federal marriage protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. Congress passed the legislation in fall 2022, and President Joe Biden signed in Decemberbefore Vance takes office in January 2023.
Vance also repeated false tropes increasingly used by conservatives to describe LGBTQ people and those who support them as “groomers.”
“I will stop calling people ‘treaters’ when they stop freaking out over bills that prevent the sexualization of my children,” Vance said on social media in April 2022.
GLAAD wrote in its post about Vance’s background: “There is no evidence that discussing LGBTQ people, history, or families in schools ‘sexualizes’ someone. Child sexual abuse experts say false rhetoric about grooming decreases understanding about real abuse and puts all children in danger.”
Vance also spoke about bills that would censor discussions about LGBTQ issues on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in April 2022, arguing that teachers were also hiding their efforts to teach children about sexual orientation or gender identity.
“So one of the things we’re learning, Tucker, is that this is being forced by some of these really radical teachers, and they’re hiding it from parents,” he said. “’That’s perhaps the most pernicious part.”
Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his stance on LGBTQ issues.
Some gay conservatives expressed support for Vance. Log Cabin Republicans, the nation’s largest organization representing LGBTQ conservatives and straight allies, praised him as an “incredible choice” on the social networks.
Richard Grenell, acting director of national intelligence during the Trump administration, described Vancewhose best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” recounted his experience growing up poor in an Ohio Rust Belt town as “the living example of the American dream.”
He added: “His story gives everyone hope that this is the land of opportunity.”
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, described Trump and Vance as “anything but a ticket to unity.”
“Donald Trump has been a bully for years – and his choice of MAGA clone JD Vance is a reminder that nothing has changed,” Robinson said in a statement. “We are not simply choosing between two campaigns. We are choosing between two fundamentally different visions of America. One, with Trump and MAGA ‘yes man’ JD Vance in charge, where our rights and freedoms are under siege. And the other, with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris leading the way, where we move toward freedom and equality for all. Everything is at stake and the contrast could not be clearer.”
Dara Atkinson, executive director of TransOhio, a statewide trans rights organization, said Vance’s federal bill to restrict transition-related care for minors goes further “in cruelty, scope and enforcement” than Ohio’s similar law. , which a judge blocked in April. Oral arguments in the case started this week.
“Vance is a hateful, cruel man who would love to hurt trans children,” Atkinson said. “He positions himself as an authority among doctors, parents and trans youth. We need legislators with enthusiasm to help their constituents, not venom to harm children.”
LGBTQ rights organizations have widely criticized the Trump administration as one of the least friendly to the community. Among its policies, the administration banned transsexuals from enlisting in the military, inverted Title IX protections for trans students and decided to reverse an Obama-era policy that protected trans people from discrimination in healthcare.
LGBTQ rights are only mentioned a few times in GOP 2024 Platform, which the Republican National Convention will vote on this week. The platform says Republicans want to “keep men out of women’s sports,” which refers to banning trans women from participating in women’s sports, and “cut federal funding to any school that promotes critical race theory, the radical ideology gender and other inappropriate racial and sexual practices.” or political content about our children,” referring to bills that would restrict discussion or instruction of LGBTQ issues in classrooms.
The platform also states that Republicans would “promote a culture that values the sanctity of marriage, the blessings of childhood, the fundamental role of families, and supports working parents,” using a phrase that is often used to promote heterosexual marriage only. .
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